


Beginning of Healing

by Sumi



Series: Rin Shepard [5]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, World-weary broken people find comfort and understanding with each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24079417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/pseuds/Sumi
Summary: When Rin felt the bed dip again, she stirred and looked over at Garrus. “Who wanted so desperately to get my attention?”“Joker,” Garrus said with another chuckle. “I didn’t tell him what you said, but knowing Joker he’d get a laugh out of it.”
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Series: Rin Shepard [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1013532
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24
Collections: Id Pro Quo 2020





	Beginning of Healing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dytabytes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dytabytes/gifts).



Rin’s sleep was interrupted by the sound of her omni tool beeping from across the room. It was the specific kind of beeping you heard when someone was attempting to contact you. She was still healing from her many wounds after the entire fucking Citadel fell on top of her so there was no chance of Rin answering. That’s assuming she even wanted to talk to anyone in the first place.

When it finally stopped, Rin breathed out a sigh of relief until it started all over again. Rin held back a growl, wishing she still was in possession of her service weapon. One shot and that damned thing would never make another sound again. Of course, they took that away the second they put Rin on an extended medical leave. Rin wasn't sure she even wanted to go back, but that was a decision for another day.

The other side of the bed dipped and Rin hated that her first reaction was to reach her hand out and make a grab for them. She always made it a point to never show weakness. Out in the battlefield that would be your undoing, but this was the temporary apartment Rin shared with Garrus. There was no need for that here.

Garrus glanced over at her, mandibles twitching in amusement. “Shepard, I don’t think they are going to give up anytime soon.” If he had seen anything then he was choosing to ignore it for which Rin would remain eternally grateful. “It might be better for the both of us if I answer it.”

She relented, giving Garrus a curt nod. When he reached the doorway, Rin pushed herself up and called out to him. “Hey Garrus, can you do me a favor?”

“For you Shepard, anything.”

Rin suppressed a smirk. “If the person on the other side of comm has any title before their name then you can feel free to tell them to kiss my heavily scarred ass.”

This drew a deep chuckle from Garrus. “Gladly Shepard.

She knew she no longer had a career in the alliance and to be honest Rin didn’t want to go back. It filled Ring with a mixture of feelings; most of which she didn’t want to feel while still healing from the many injuries littering her body.

Rin began to doze before Garrus came back to bed much to her displeasure. The doctors cautioned against Rin leaving the hospital any time soon, but once Normandy finally made its way back to earth, she decided that wasn’t going to happen. She wanted to be surrounded by Garrus and the rest of her crew rather than doctors with their disapproving stares.

Between Rin’s third degree burns and amputated right leg, she still had a long way to go in order to fully heal. Rin’s cybernetics were only so useful. What she needed was rest and more fucking rest. No damned reason Rin couldn’t get it somewhere she felt more comfortable.

When Rin felt the bed dip again, she stirred and looked over at Garrus. “Who wanted so desperately to get my attention?”

“Joker,” Garrus said with another chuckle. “I didn’t tell him what you said, but knowing Joker he’d get a laugh out of it.”

Rin snorted in agreement. “We cripples have to stick together.”

The loss of Rin’s leg was something she was still coming to terms with. It wasn’t like they didn’t have the technology to get her a good prosthetic, but it marked yet another thing the Reapers took from Rin. However, Rin supposed that versus her dying it was a fair tradeoff.

“You okay there, Shepard?”

She gave a shrug. “I’m fine, but I would’ve been better had Joker not called three times. What did Jeff want, anyways?”

Garrus climbed back into bed beside Rin, giving her a once over before answering. “He and Ash want to visit. I didn’t give them an answer because I wanted to discuss it with you first.”

“What about you big guy? Are you up for it?” Rin asked. “Might do us some good to see some more attractive faces.”

Garrus had faced his own share of trauma after the Normandy crash landed on east bum fuck in the middle of nowhere. It was understandable if he didn’t want any visitors. Both of them had come so close to death with Rin being the record holder thanks to nearly five death experiences.Almost dying that many times screwed with your mind.

“I thought my scars drove you wild,” Garrus countered, his voice taking on a teasing tone. “Yours have a similar effect on me.”

Rin flashed him a smirk. “Oh they certainly do. You don’t have to worry about that happening, Garrus.”

The two remained on the fence about having visitors. Rin suggested later on that week, but she wasn't sure. She had a check-up with the doctor which she wasn’t looking forward to. They kept giving Rin these sympathetic looks. It reminded her of waking up on the Alliance ship after the Mindoir disaster. Those sympathetic looks did nothing, but make you angrier.

When Rin had told Garrus she was fine, she had mostly been telling the truth. Rin was trying to create some semblance of a life in this new normal of hers. A life outside the Alliance and being more than just Commander Shepard. That was probably the biggest struggle.

All living souls in the Milky looked at her and saw nothing more than their supposed savior-- whether they agreed with her past actions or not. Hell, it was as if her name ceased to exist and she was just Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Garrus and the rest of the crew referred to her as Shepard, but for those closest to her it was a term of endearment. Since they settled into a relationship, Garrus had started to slip in ‘Rin’ more and more when speaking to her. Hearing him call her Rin left her with this warm, fuzzy feeling that would’ve scared the crap out of her a few years ago.

The thought of it made her chuckle. It alerted Garrus who glanced at her, a puzzled look in his eye. “Something funny, Rin?”

“Just the fact that you made me feel something, Vakarian,” Rin pointed out. “I’d say ‘damn you’, but I’m pretty glad you did.”

Garrus laughed. “It’s a good thing my seduction skills are top tier.”

“You keep telling yourself that, Vakarian.”

She closed her eyes, determined to get some more sleep before starting yet another possibly shitty day. Being in constant pain day in and day out tended to lower the hope for having a decent mindset.

The truth of it is that when things were good they were good and when they were bad, they were very bad. On the bad days, Rin wouldn’t feel up to setting one foot (only had one so this was a moot point) out of bed. Garrus tried his best to comfort her, but he had his own demons and would have to excuse himself to the other room for a break.

Rin didn’t blame him for that. If anything, it made Rin angrier with herself for being able to come out of her negative thoughts and give that same comfort to Garrus. That particular day was a bad one, leaving Rin feeling exhausted once the sun started to rise.

Nightmares of the Reapers coming back haunted Rin's dreams. They were gone, of course. There was no coming back from what Rin did to them, but the subconscious could be a fickle thing.

She hobbled out of bed later that morning, making a quick grab for the crutches propped against the bedside table. Rin emerged from the room to find Garrus sitting in the kitchen, scrolling on a datapad. When he saw her, his mandibles twitched in acknowledgement.

“Morning Shepard. I made some of your levo coffee if your craving some.”

Rin sighed in relief. “Garrus, have I mentioned lately that your my favorite Turian?”

“Not today,” he retorted, amusement obvious in his tone.

She poured herself a cup of coffee, downing it within a few minutes. Rin preferred her coffee black with little to nothing added to it. It packed a better punch when one drank it straight. Ash and Joker liked to say she was a sadist for simply her coffee preferences alone.

After she was done, Rin took a good look at Garrus. He was watching her, concern obvious on his face. She wasn’t an expert on Turian facial expressions, but considered herself to be one in Garrus’s verbal and nonverbal responses. The same could be said when it came to Garrus discerning Rin’s emotions even if human’s feelings were usually written all over their face.

“I’m okay, Garrus. I hope I didn’t worry you too much yesterday,” Rin explained softly. “Good thing the doctors weren’t scheduled to come around yesterday. I might have made them consider quitting the profession entirely.”

Garrus chuckled. “You do have what you humans call a bad bedside manner.”

The next stop for Rin was the empty seat right beside Garrus. She shifted uncomfortably, managing to find a decent position that didn’t cause her wounds to ache. For being entirely different species, the two of them fit pretty well together.

"If I recall, it's you who left the medbay just hours after taking a rocket to the face," Rin pointed out in a dry tone.

"Well, I never did say I was a good patient, either."

Garru's shifted, poking Rin with one of the many pointy parts on his body. She knew Garrus's body enough to know this was a result of being stranded for all those weeks. The thought made Rin's stomach twist into knots.

Yeah, sure she was nearly crushed to death, but at least most of the time after was spent in a hospital bed. Garrus and Tali were forced to ration the dextro food to the point of nearly starving to death. His weight had improved. It just was still too low for Rin's liking.

"Rin, I'm as you humans say a-okay," Garrus said, breaking the comfortable silence without any warning.

It was a mirror of the words Rin spoke to Garrus when she came out this morning. She was unable to resist letting out a snort of amusement over how well Garrus knew her. He knew exactly where her mind had gone by simply seeing the expression on her face.

Rin glanced at him. "We are a pair, aren't we Vakarian?"

"I did mean it when I said there was no Shepard without Vakarian."

She grinned, placing a kiss against Garrus's lips. After months and months of practice, they had this down to a science. Garrus made a noise, pressing her closer to his body. This was the wrong thing to do because as soon as he did, Rin felt a surge of pain shoot up her body.

Garrus pulled away once he felt her tense. The moment was ruined. Not his fault, of course. Garrus hadn't meant to press against her burns.

"Fuck this and fuck everything," Rin hissed both in pain and frustration. "I know I've said this before but I am so sick of all this shit."

He nodded in agreement. "You and me both, Shepard but at least we're together."

"Yeah, can't get rid of me that easily."

She made light of her many death experiences now and then. Garrus gave her a look, but did chuckle a little bit.

While they sat there Rin was reminded was their potential impending visitors. Yesterday Rin didn't know whether or not she wanted Ash and Joker to visit, but now she'd made up her mind.

Rin glanced at Garrus's datapad and then at him. "Why don't you tell Joker and Ash they can come by? I think we could use some visitors."

"I do miss Joker's great conversational skills," Garrus said, drawing a laugh out of Rin.

If there was one thing the two of them were missing it was definitely Joker's witty conversation.


End file.
